by Sam Crescent
“Which is?”
“She wished she got rid of my father when she had the chance, years ago.” Darla looked down at her hands. “I need to do this, but I’m struggling to go in there.”
“You know what? Fine. I’ll go in.” Tate breezed past her, going into the pharmacy. Standing outside, she watched her friend pick up several pregnancy test boxes. She wanted to knock on the window to tell her which ones would be the best. She stayed outside like the coward she was.
Minutes later, Tate walked out carrying a bag and holding a receipt. “You owe me money.”
“I can pay you.”
“Not now. Now, I want to know the answer and for that, we’re going to my house. You’re not meeting your men till lunch. I’m sure they can spare you till then.” Tate pushed her arm through Darla’s and together, they walked down the street. They rounded the corner in time to see Ruby being felt up by her two men. “Get a room.”
They stopped to talk with the other woman. Her two men looked sheepish and Darla smiled at each man in turn. This is what she wanted, to be ravished by Luke, Jon, and Ryan and not have to think about another thing. Whenever any of them touched her, she lost all thought and reasoning.
“I heard about the attack last night. Is Ryan okay?”
“I believe so. He’s tough and doesn’t complain,” Darla said.
“He’s hoping she’ll kiss it all better. I bet he’s just pissed that he didn’t get hit in the groin,” Tate said.
Glaring at her friend, Darla turned to Ruby. “Don’t mind her. She’s just grouchy because her men won’t touch her.”
In no time at all, they were all talking and laughing. Tate was the first to pull her away. “We’ll meet at lunch in the diner?” Tate asked.
“Count me there. The whole town is abuzz with gossip. I want to know what’s going on.”
Tate led her past Ruby and down a long street. She’d been to Tate’s apartment three times in the last couple of years. The other woman liked to look after Nathan for her. She was starting to think Tate’s biological clock was ticking, even at her young age. Letting them inside the small apartment, Tate went toward the far window. “I’ve got to find a new place. This is starting to smell like damp every passing day.”
“So how come you and the carpenters are not working?” Darla asked.
“Nice chance, but this is not going to be about me. Bathroom. Get ready to pee.” Tate herded her toward the bathroom.
“You’re not going to watch me pee,” Darla said.
“Ew, gross. No, I’m waiting to see what the test says. It’s exciting and I can’t wait to see the answer.”
Shoved inside the bathroom, Darla stared at herself in the mirror.
“Come on, we don’t have all day,” came Tate’s voice through the door. Rolling her eyes, Darla started on the tests. She’d taken enough in her short life to know how they worked.
Twenty minutes later, she called Tate inside. All tests were in the sink.
“Well, what do they say?” Tate asked.
“What do you think?” Putting her head in her hands, Darla looked down at the floor. Pregnant again. She’d have to be the most fertile woman on the planet. All her men had to do was look at her and she was pregnant.
“Are you happy?”
Darla shrugged. “I’m not unhappy about being pregnant. I’ve got to talk with the guys. I shouldn’t have done this without them.”
“Well, once you get seen by Norris, he’ll clear you to do all kinds of nasty, right?” Tate asked with her hands on her hips.
“I guess.”
“This is a win-win for you, honey. Perk up. You’re going to have another baby and Nathan’s going to have a little brother or sister. Life is going to be good.”
Laughing, Darla started to become infected by her friend’s good mood.
“You’re right. This is a good thing.”
* * * *
Luke was exhausted and it was only eleven. They were all due at the diner in an hour. He knew the town folk would want to know everything that happened and he wasn’t the person it had happened to. Ryan looked poorly from discussing everything that occurred last night.
The Sheriff was going over the details, writing everything down. David stood with them, watching the scene before them.
“He’s doing everything he can,” David said.
“Really? To me, it’s like he’s painting Ryan as some kind of villain,” Luke said, getting angrier with every passing second. “He’s been through enough, and the bastard is making him relive it.”
David sighed. “Come with me.”
Glancing at Jon, he watched his brother shrug and followed the other guy back into the house. The work on the house had been completed, with prints taken. Also, the disk Luke recalled seeing had been taken for monitoring.
“From what I’ve heard in the last few hours, this is what happened.” David was an investigator. Luke recalled Brant Stone telling him about hiring a guy through Donald, the man who owned the BDSM club in town. So many names to remember.
They went down to the gym. “Ryan wasn’t listening to music, but he was working out on the running machine.” David climbed onto the machine and started to run at the speed mentioned.
“Then he heard a loud slam and the running machine stopped, but he didn’t hear anything else.” Up they went from the gym, going through the rooms in the order described. “The television was already on mute and he turned it off. Next, he went to check on Nathan.”
Luke, with Jon, followed David upstairs. The other man opened the bedroom. “That’s when he heard the door going and the creaking of the floorboards.”
At the top of the stairs, David talked about him getting the bat. This was all information Luke had heard, listening to Ryan talk over and over again about the events of the night before.
All three men ended downstairs where Luke had found his youngest brother unconscious on the floor.
“We’ve heard all of this,” Luke said. “What are you trying to get at?”
“Whoever attacked your brother knows this house,” David said.
“What?” Jon asked, frowning.
“Listen.” David left them, moving to the front door. The other man closed the door, slamming it. The noise was loud enough for Ryan to hear it, but not loud enough to wake the little boy. Then David opened the door, closing it behind him without making a sound. Luke watched as the other men stepped in certain places that would make the floorboards creak. Suddenly he moved toward the floors that didn’t creak and went to a spot beneath the stairs. “Go back up and come down. I’m going to move like the guy did.”
“This is fucking ridiculous,” Jon said.
He heard the nerves in his brother’s voice. Jon was starting to freak out at what they were finding.
Together, they opened Nathan’s bedroom door and looked inside. The door slammed closed and they went through the motions exactly like Ryan described them, even going into his bedroom to grab the bat. Going downstairs, neither of them saw David until he stepped out of the shadows.
Whirling around, Luke knew the truth in the other man’s eyes. Their house was not secure, and whoever knew how to sneak up on Ryan could easily get back inside.
“Okay, what precautions can we take?” he asked.
“I’ve got some guys coming down, but I want to put a man out on the door at all times to make sure you’re safe,” David said. “Daniel will be perfect for the job.”
Tessie’s mother seriously had a thing for men with names starting with the same letter. Donald, David, and Daniel were all interested in Lillian Holland.
Great, he was now thinking about another woman’s love life instead of the danger being posed to his own.
“You don’t think this threat is just a coincidence, do you?” Luke asked, needing to know the truth.
David glanced at the door. “I’m not the Sheriff.”
“But you don’t agree with him.”
“I’m someone lendi
ng a hand. I’ve got experience and Trevor doesn’t like the fact we’re all having to learn something new.” David stopped, shaking his head. “A woman turns up murdered and an attack on your brother…in my experience, they’re related.”
Luke took all the information in. He couldn’t trust Trevor at the moment. The other man was too busy trying to make excuses for everything instead of dealing with the problem staring them all in the face.
“Fine, then talk to me as if you’re the person in charge right now.”
“Luke, you can’t do this,” Jon said.
“Our brother could have been killed last night and Trevor’s too busy being scared. This is my family. You, Ryan, Darla, and Nathan are my responsibility and I’m not taking chances with the family I’ve only just got back.” Turning back to David he focused on the other man. “Please, I need you to be the person in charge right now.”
David stared at him for several minutes. “This is not going to go down well with the town.”
“I don’t care. We voted for Trevor to be in but I can’t risk my family’s lives on his decision right now. I don’t trust it and I imagine if this was Lillian, you wouldn’t trust it either.” The pen David had been holding snapped in two.
“Just like I thought. Now, please, stop being the man in the background and be the man you’d expect to protect your own woman.”
“Do you have any enemies?” David asked.
“No, we’ve lived here our whole lives.”
“What about past enemies?”
Jon cleared his throat. “Derek.”
“Who’s Derek?” David asked, looking between them.
“He’s our stepfather. He and our mom skipped out of town when the going got tough,” Luke said. He explained the details.
David took down Derek’s name and their mother’s. “I’d also advise you get your real fathers here. They’ll be able to help you out for protection.”
Within an hour, David and the Sheriff were gone and they were all in the truck, driving toward town.
“I think the Sheriff hates me,” Ryan said. “He was treating me like the enemy.”
“Trevor’s in over his head. He doesn’t know what’s going on,” Luke said.
“Come on. He’s had a hard few months, losing his deputy the way he did and the crap that’s come to town.” Jon was trying to make excuses, but Luke wasn’t listening to them anymore. He was done with excuses. His family was in danger and if that meant going behind the Sheriff’s back, then that was what he’d do.
* * * *
The drive to the diner was tense. Ryan knew it was his fault and he wanted to ask his brothers about what happened inside the house, but neither of them were talking. For the first time since Derek left their lives, he was nervous.
“No, I can’t do this. I can’t sit here, listening to nothing while you two clearly have something to say.”
Both men looked at each other before looking at him.
“What? What is it?” He shouted the words, hoping they’d get through to the two men.
“David’s looking into some leads for us. We need to call Dads to get them here, and he’s also getting some men to install a security system in our house,” Luke said, blurting it all out.
Letting the words sink in, Ryan nodded. “He agrees with me.”
“What?” Jon asked.
“I was talking to Darla about it last night. I felt the guy knew something about the house. He knew what he was doing and where he was going. I don’t know. I freaked out and I think whoever hit me last night has been in our house before.” Ryan let everything out, refusing to keep his thoughts from his brothers.
“You know, any other time I’d try and tell you to stop worrying, but this is not one of those times,” Luke said. “We’ve all go to stay together and talk about everything.”
“I’m going to get onto hiring some people for the Dancin’ Donkey,” Jon said, pulling out his cell phone. “There are a couple of college kids still in town, hoping to earn some money. They’ve worked for us before. They’ll work for us now.”
Ryan sat listening as Jon organized some people to take over the bar. “Don’t you think this is a little extreme?”
“No, we’ve got to stay together.”
There was no parking space in the town, and Luke found a space around the back of the building. Bessie was throwing out some boxes when they were climbing out. “I don’t like anyone parking in my space,” she said. Her hands were firmly placed on her hips as she glared at them.
“Is Darla waiting for us?” Ryan asked.
“Why do you think I’m not asking you to move this heap of junk?” Bessie shook her hand at the truck. “Why you don’t buy something better is beyond me.”
“Buying a new truck is expensive,” Luke said.
“And you’re a tight bastard. I run my own diner. I know you’re not worrying about cash. Also, your dads are doing pretty well for themselves. Don’t try and pull one on me. Next time, you park elsewhere.” She made her way back into the diner. They made to follow her. Bessie stopped them, turning toward them. “You enter in the front, not the back.” She slammed the door closed.
“I wonder what’s wrong with her.”
The door opened once again. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I don’t like my customers being scared and all of them, tourists included, are feeling a little scared.” The door closed once again.
“Great, let’s go and handle the chaos waiting for us,” Luke said, taking the lead and walking around the side of the building.
Ryan followed his brothers, wishing there was something else he could do rather than deal with the town of Stone Valley. On the way around to the front of the diner, they all bumped into Markus and Brant Stone. The two brothers had somber expressions as they stared at each other.
“Are you all right?” Brant asked, looking at Ryan.
Shrugging his shoulders, Ryan tried to smile.
“Don’t try and argue with us or lie. We know what’s going on. David and Donald are close. They’re looking out for Tessie ’cause they love her mother. We’re not in the dark,” Markus said.
Running fingers through his hair, Ryan looked past his shoulder to the entrance of the diner.
“Is it bad in there?” he asked.
“It’s not good. Tessie is concerned,” Brant said. Both Stone brothers looked tense.
“What do you recommend we say?” Luke asked.
“Calm them all. Trevor should be the one doing damage control, not you.” Markus tapped Luke on the shoulder. “If you need anything, let us know.”
Waiting for his brother to finish talking, Ryan followed them inside. The diner grew silent when people saw them enter. This was the only thing he hated about living in a town. News travelled fast and gossip even faster.
“I’m alive,” Ryan said, trying to make light. “The Sheriff is looking into everything.”
“What about the murder?” someone asked.
He didn’t see who it was who asked.
“We don’t know anything about a murder,” Luke said. “If someone knows of a guy with a baseball bat, give me a call. I’ve got a score to settle for them hurting my brother.” Ryan went to Darla. His woman sat, looking pretty pale. Tate sat opposite her, holding her hand.
“Thank you,” he said, sitting beside Darla and wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
“I’m pleased you’re okay,” Tate said, standing. “I’ve got some stuff to do and I’ve been ordered to the Dancin’ Donkey to meet some new staff.” She gave Luke a pointed look before getting up and leaving.
Conversations resumed in the diner once again. He noticed Darla’s hands were shaking.
“What’s the matter, baby?” Ryan asked, taking her hand and kissing it.
“You didn’t hear the gossip. People were talking about axe murderers and child snatchers. Uh, it didn’t leave me feeling all warm and bubbly.” Darla shook her head. “Anyway, how did everything go with you guys and the She
riff.”
Looking at Luke, Ryan waited for his brother to answer. He was done dealing with the law. It was the last thing he wanted to do and he was bored with it. Leaning down, he inhaled her lemony scent and wished he was back at home, naked, with her in his arms.
“Everything is going great,” Luke said, taking hold of her hand and kissing her knuckles. His brother’s smile seemed to calm the whole town down. They all went back to talking and the tension was cut.
Darla glanced around her. “Is that the truth, or are you going to tell me something different when we get home?”
Luke shook his head, looking at Jon and Ryan. There was an edge to his gaze and Ryan knew to follow his brother’s lead.
“No, everything is good. It’s probably a fluke attack. Some kids who were drunk and panicked,” Ryan said. “What have we got going to eat?”
He quickly changed the subject, not wanting to draw any more attention to his nerves.
“Are you at least going to go for a follow-up check on your head?” Darla asked.
“Nah, I wasn’t planning on it. I’m a man.”
She whacked him in the stomach. “If we’re in this together with all four of us, then you’ve got to stay healthy.”
Jon laughed and Luke smiled. “For a twenty-four-year-old, you’re seriously bossy,” Jon said.
“I’ve been raising a kid and a sick parent. I had to learn quickly.”
Playing with her hair, Ryan ordered some food. Every now and then, someone would glance their way and he’d make sure to be happy.
“Follow-up check, even if it’s with Norris,” Darla said.
“Also, we’ve arranged for some staff to take over our night shifts. We want to spend time with you and Nathan,” Jon said.
Darla shrugged. “I’m up for anything.”
Ryan chuckled. When he was in Darla’s company, he could forget about all the troubles coming their way.